Stuffed Japapenos + Halloween Cocktail

I mentioned Monday that I made the Pioneer Woman's Stuffed Jalapenos last weekend. They were a huge hit. Every last one was scarfed down. I recommend using center cut bacon since it is thinner and will crisp up better while cooking. Instead of plain cream cheese, I used onion and chive cream cheese and mixed in Monterrey Jack to give the peppers extra flavor. If you like a little heat leave a few seeds in the jalapenos. But be sure to wash your hands after cutting the peppers, I can't tell you how many times I have rubbed an eye or my nose while doing this and it burns forever! I found no need for toothpicks to hold these together. I just made sure the bacon seam was down on the rack when cooking. These would be perfect for a Holiday party. They serve well at room temperature as well as hot.

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapenos
Ingredients
■20 whole Fresh Jalapenos, 2-3 Inches In Size
■2 cubes Cream Cheese, softened (I used 1 tub Onion and Chive Cream Cheese plus about 1 cup of Monterrey Jack Cheese).
■1 pound Thin(regular) Bacon, Sliced Into Thirds

Instructions
If you have them, slip on some latex gloves for the pepper prep... Cut jalapenos in half, length-wise. With a spoon, remove the seeds and white membrane (the source of the heat; leave a little if you like things HOT). Smear softened cream cheese into each jalapeno half. Wrap jalapeno with bacon pieces (1/3 slice). Secure by sticking toothpick through the middle.

Bake on a pan with a rack in a 375-degree oven for 20-25 minutes. You don’t want the bacon to shrink so much it starts to the squeeze the jalapeno. If, after 20 minutes, the bacon doesn’t look brown enough, just turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes to finish it off. These are best when the jalapeno still has a bit of bite to it.

Now on to the drinks. My brother in law found this recipe and they were so good. I am a very picky mixed drink person. My standard drink is vodka with fresh squeezed lemon and maybe a splash of water. I'm hard core when it come to liquor. Just kidding, but I do hate when drinks are too sugary or sweet and this was not at all. The lime juice and ginger ale paired perfect with the rum. Oh and the soaked gummies at the end of your drink are the best part. You might just want to soak a whole batch of these! We couldn't find black sugar, which the recipe calls for except for at Williams Sonoma and I assure you we weren't going to pay $15 for a bottle of black sugar when any other color would work just fine. We used red instead. We thought these would be adorable at Christmas with Christmas Tree Gummies and glasses rimmed in red and green sugar. Enjoy! You won't be able to drink just one of these!

Halloween Spooktacular Cocktail
-Rum
-Ginger Ale
-Limes
-Colored sugar
-Gummy Spiders

For our cocktails we did about 2 shots of Rum per drink, one lime squeezed per drink and a splash of ginger ale. Mix all in a shaker. Wet glasses with the limes and dip into colored sugar. Place 2-3 gummy spiders at the bottom. Pour mixture over top.